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If you ask American Andre Agassi about who is the greatest female tennis player, he will tell you it is not his wife, the legendary German Steffi Graf.
Agassi, one of all-time tennis greats, recently picked compatriot Serena Williams, the current number one, as the best ever, saying he is even more than happy to see Williams surpass his wife’s professional era record.
Graf, who retired at the age of 30 in 1999 and married Agassi two years later, had 22 grand slam singles titles while Williams collected 19, the latest being the 2015 Australian Open trophy she won in January.
Williams, who will turn 34 in September, is still dominating the game and has never shown any signs of slowing down. Many see her going on to surpass Graf and Australian Margaret Court, who holds the record of 24 grand slam singles titles.
“But what Serena is doing is remarkable,” Agassi told Reuters TV during a recent visit to England.
“She’s arguably the greatest ever, it would be easy to argue that regardless of 22 or not.”
Agassi, an eight-time grand slam champion and Olympic gold medallist, said even his wife has no problem with Serena surpassing her record.
“Records are meant to be broken and if Serena does it would be a beautiful thing to watch,” the 44-year-old Las Vegan said.
Undeniably the best tennis player of her generation, Williams has a good chance of breaking more records. The oldest number one player in the WTA’s history already owns the record of having the most major singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles combined among active players.
Yes, there is a growing list of young pretenders like Romanian Simona Halep, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. But Williams is far from being threatened.
Her closest rival, Russian Maria Sharapova, is still having trouble beating the American. Of their 19 encounters, Williams won the last 15, including the 2015 Australian Open championship.
The last time Sharapova defeated Williams was in the WTA Tour Championship in Los Angeles 10 years ago. But months before that, the Russian defeated the American in the Wimbledon championship to lift her first grand slam trophy.
Unlike the men’s field where rivalry between the top five players is more intense, the women’s side has been dominated by Williams following the departure of Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters.
And if Williams continues to be in top shape, she would be well on her way to becoming the greatest ever.
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